


Change

by why_me_why_not



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:47:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29440668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/why_me_why_not/pseuds/why_me_why_not
Summary: Ron wants to change his life, the way he fits into the world those around him have created. It seems no one else wants to let that change.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Pansy Parkinson/Ron Weasley
Kudos: 9





	Change

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted October 2007 for the two_of_us_fic challenge. My lyrics: _You say you'll change a constitution, well, you know / We all want to change your head._
> 
> Heaps of hugs go to ltlredhairdgirl for giving me the greenlight when I suggested this idea, and lots of love to gelsey for beta-reading. Any remaining mistakes are all mine.

Ron looked at his Auror assignment and sighed. First day out of Auror training and already he was regretting it. "Sir?"

"Yes, Mr. Weasley?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked, looking up from the paperwork he was filling out.

"Could I request a different partner?"

Kingsley put down his quill and stared at Ron for a moment. "Why? You and Potter have already proven that you work well together."

"Yes, but..." Ron tried to think of a reason why, something other than the truth. He and Harry were too good of friends; they didn't need the interference of work in their friendship? That they were like brothers and it would be bad for something to happen to both of them at the same time, which was more likely to happen if they were partnered? Well, that one was true, because Mum would never get over it. "Maybe I'm just tired of being Harry's sidekick." Truth.

"Don't be silly, Ron," Harry's voice came from the doorway behind him. "You're not a sidekick. You're my best friend and now my partner. We do work well together, when we're not fighting, so why change that?"

With Kingsley and Harry both watching him with expectant grins, Ron couldn't do anything but nod. So much for making a name for himself.

Ron rushes home to change, knowing his Mum will have a fit if he's late for their weekly family dinner, and why does it have to be on Tuesday night? As soon as he crosses the threshold, though, he recognizes he's not alone; there's a tingle of magic in the air that isn't his.

He find Hermione curled up in a living room chair, trying to hide the evidence of her tears as she stands up with a smile to greet him. "Hey." She leans in to kiss him, but he turns his head. She looks hurt for a moment but persists, wrapping her arms around him. "Michael and I are over." She barely hesitates before adding, "Take me to bed."

Ron shakes his head and pulls away. "It's family dinner night."

"Never mattered before."

And she's right, it didn't. It hadn't mattered after she took off for Romania, under the guise of studying some ancient medicine technique but really to give Viktor Krum a chance. It hadn't mattered after her brief fling with the healer whose name Ron couldn't remember, the one she was supposed to be apprenticing with. It hadn't mattered after her first year of Muggle medical school, when she had come home whispering and giggling to Ginny about the man who had occupied her time when she was away, before he went back to his girlfriend at home, and she came back to Ron for the summer.

Ron had always been there, been waiting for her to come back and willing to do whatever it took to keep her when he could have her. It was the way things were. The way _they_ were. And it hadn't mattered what he missed out on because of it.

It mattered now.

"I have to change."

"Honestly, Ron, what were you thinking?" Mrs. Weasley fussed as she bustled around the kitchen, preparing dinner. "First I hear that you made a big deal about being partnered with Harry this morning, and then when Hermione comes to you, you turn her away. I don't know what has gotten into you." She shoved a stack of dishes into his hands. "Here, go set the table while I finish up."

Ron waited until she turned her back to roll his eyes.

"I saw that, young man."

Dinner was a trying affair. Hermione was sitting at the opposite end of the table, occasionally casting teary looks in his directions. Ginny kicked him as she sat down beside him. "You're such a prat," she hissed. Ron didn't know if she was upset over Harry or Hermione, but he was getting tired of everyone expecting him to keep following the rut he'd always been in instead of taking a different path.

Mum was passing out desserts when George said, "Ron, I need you to cover at the Hogsmeade store on Saturday."

Ron set his fork down calmly and looked at his brother. "No."

"No?"

"No, I won't." Everyone was looking at him now. "I can't always just drop everything to suit you. You don't even pay me, except sometimes with dinner, and I'm tired of you just _expecting_ me to do what you want. So no."

Everyone was silent for a moment and then started speaking at once.

Mum. "Your brother needs your help, Ron, you know that."

Harry. "What's going on with you today, mate?"

Hermione. "Oh please, like you had other plans anyway."

Ginny. "You're just saying that so Harry will feel guilty and offer to help, when you know that he and I have plans this weekend."

George. "But Ron, you always--"

"Yeah, that's right, I _always_ ," Ron interrupted angrily. "Well, maybe I want something different. Maybe I want to _change_. But do any of you care what I want? No. It's all about you, and you expect me to just take it. To be the same person I've always been. I'm done with _always_."

Ron stormed out of the house, ignoring the others calling his name behind him. He headed to the Muggle pub he liked to frequent, a place where no one knew him as Harry Potter's sidekick, or the boy in love with Hermione Granger, or the little brother of George Weasley (or Bill or Charlie or Percy). The bartender knew him and was filling a mug with his preferred beer before he even made it across to the bar. He accepted his drink with a nod of thanks and turned to look for an empty table. It was quiet, probably because it was a Tuesday night, so he had plenty to choose from, but an occupied table in the corner caught his attention. Or rather, its occupant did.

"Can I sit?" He didn't wait for an answer as he pulled out the chair opposite the young lady. There was an awkward silence between them as they both focused on their drinks, the few other patrons, anywhere but on each other. "So," he finally said, "what are you up to these days?"

She gave a brief, humorless laugh and when she spoke, her voice was softer, less confident, than he ever remembered it. "Are we really going to do this? Sit here and make small talk like we used to be friends?"

"Yeah." Ron wasn't sure why, but that's exactly what he wanted right now. "Yeah, we are."

She studied her hands, playing nervously with her now-empty glass, and Ron had almost forgotten he had asked a question when she said, "Nothing."

"What?"

"You asked what I'm up to. The answer is nothing. I was raised to be a proper wife, not to work, and besides, I never finished school. So I sit around the house with Narcissa most days, and try to keep things clean and make sure there's food on the table when Draco gets home. And sometimes I come out to have a drink at this quaint little Muggle pub where no one knows me. Okay?"

Ron knew she hadn't finished school, just as he knew she had been living with Malfoy. He wasn't sure why, but one of the things Harry had done after Voldemort's demise was to insist that Narcissa and Draco had not actually committed any crimes, so that while the Ministry seized Malfoy Manor and all the Malfoy assets, Draco and his mother were left with everything she had inherited from the Blacks. They had a small house now, and Draco had taken the opportunity to go back and finish Hogwarts before starting an apprenticeship at a potions shop on Diagon Alley. The shop's proprietor believed, as a decent portion of wizarding folk did, that Draco and the others were just _children_ who had been misguided by their parents and that they deserved a chance.

Ron smiled at her. "Yeah, okay. Can I buy you a drink?"

"I should go," Pansy whispers.

"No." Ron tightens his arm around her waist. "Stay."

He expects an argument, expects that she's going to tell him they can't do this because it's not who they are. Because they can't change that they've always been enemies, even after this evening. Instead, she kisses him lightly and pulls away with a small smile. "Okay."


End file.
